Excal II just acting strange...

[jyt2017]

Long story shot. I am getting lots of falsing. Not just a signal here an there. But. Strong, mid tone signals. That repeat. That...well...once a scoop is attempted...totally disapear.

I was getting them all day this weekend. So. I never use auto sensitivity. I tried that. No improvement. I tried lowering my sensitivity. No improvement.

I get a "disapearing signal" every 15 feet or so.

Could it be a tiny piece of foil that I move with my scoop?

Keep in mind I found some clad, which she worked like a champ on. What worries me. Is I believe I hunted a spot that had not been hit in 14 days with heavy use...and really not much for results. Like 1.50 total in clad.

I run disc as low as it goes. I hunt in disc mode. Sens usually as high as 2 oclock. But, lowered to like 12. This is a spot that I hunted before, without much of a problem.

I hunted this place out pretty good too. And I went over some areas that I know I hit well. Like not just once or twice. And...I found a few coins that I should have already found.

She is 2 an never had a problem. I hope she is ok an I am just having some bad luck. Anyone have theirs false like this before? Really discouraging yesterday. I had it on land, she behaved. In the drink...and man was I getting mad. I would have guessed I would have found at least a silver ring too. Nada, not even junk.

HH an GL. -Joe

 

[Critterhunter]

First, cleaned under the coil cover? Second, flex the coil cable at various points from the coil all the way to the control pod. See if it acts up in one spot. If it does you've got a short. Third, you think you are going slow? Trying going even slower. Slow is a relative term when it comes to other detectors versus Minelabs. What is slow on other machines is fast on any Minelab. If you slow down more and the threshold comes back then that's a clear indication you are sweeping too fast. Finally, it could be a concetration of black ironized sand in small deposits. I hit one beach where there was bad storm action that exposed layers of black sand. My GT went CRAZY over it like I was sweeping over a large sheet of metal. Could not hunt those spots at all. I think you could be hitting some kind of black sand/iron hot rock types of blobs of sand left here and there perhaps? Does it go away when you hunt way up the beach away from where the storms/tide/whatever could be depositing stuff? If not then there's your answer. Let us know what you find out.

 

[dewcon4414]

Whats it doing in PP over those repeatable false targets? Sometimes when im running.... what i call against the grain pattern (down the beach instead of out and back) you get black sand falsing when like was mentioned you are going to fast or the waves or current are moving over the coil. Have you tried.... turning it off and then on IN the water? As far as sand under the cover..... ive not found it to affect the Xcal, now the Exp.....yes it hates dirt undeer the coil.

Dew

 

[jyt2017]

Critter an Dew, thanks for advice. I will have to wait until the weekend to really trouble shoot her. I will post an update. And if I have to I will send her in. In meantime, I await new arrival of GT. zomg. First attempt at delivery was a fail. Tomorrow I PU in fedex office. I can't wait to try it in spot I know has old coins. I will post on Excal II by sat night. Might be able to bench test an clean sooner, but might not.

I am thinking its black sand. There is black sand where I hunt, few inches down. Anyway. HH an GL. Will update soon. -Joe

 

[Critterhunter]

Yep, the Sovereign/XCal are the best of VLF machines in terms of dealing with black sand, but even they have their limits. I hit a patch at a beach last year and the machine went bonkers like it was seeing coins all over the place.

Give yourself time to love the GT. It's worth the effort. Any old dead pounded out site is where it shines to pull some more keepers out of there that no other machine could. Run it in Auto for a while to learn how the threshold and machine should act when stabile. Iron Mask ON for best ability to see coins in iron. Noise Band 2 to match the VDI charts. Only need to ground balance if you are using all metal. Disc and PP modes don't use that ground balancing feature. Remember too that the sensitivity goes higher the further you turn it counter clockwise, until it finally clicks into Auto. The reverse of most other machines or how you would think it would be raised.

 

[jyt2017]

So I got out today. All happy to try my new RTG scoop. I asked if they could make me a 10 " scoop. And they did. She is huge. No more headaches with coins on their sides.

I made 4 passes up an down, no falsing. Great right? Nope. On fourth pass I could see a pair of feet. I knew it. It was the park nazi. I hoped he would go. No. I kept lookin up an the feet were firm. This dude was all jacked up. He gave me the boot.

I get within a few feet of him an he say "Let me give you some information". "theres no metal detecting". No "Hi, how are you, I am such an such can we chat?"

So I said "do you want me to leave?"

"No metal detecting".

I presume. He was booting me for a friend, employee, or his gain.

Anyway. She was behaving today. I think I let to much down near my coil and was swinging to fast. Thats good to know. I got the one signal in one scoop. Quarter. Its clad that drives me insane. I am good at pinpointing. And its like 1 in 8 coins [pennys up to quarters] seem to signal like 8 inches away from where they are. I figure this is due to them being on their sides.

What a suck day though, 1 hour in an "No metal detecting!"

Here are pics of new scoop. Its a beast. Good for soft sand in water an some rocks. Muck, no prob. HH an GL. -Joe

 

[Critterhunter]

Man, that is a huge scoop! Mine is smaller than most use but it gets me better at zeroing in when scooping at the beach or in the water. Be sure you don't accidently take one of those cats with you in the scoop when you head out.

Sorry to hear about the park nazi. Plenty of other parks to hunt I'm sure so no big deal. I try to avoid parks where I see ground crews working. I even try to stay far away from people in a park, and turn my back to whoever is closest when bending down to dig a hole. The less they see the better IMO. Fly under the radar is my motto. I've seen guys boldly say they like to ask the park authorites at a city or such for permission so they know they are in the clear. I think that's a mistake. So long as there are no signs that say "Permission or Permit Required" why take the chance of asking? People in government like to say "no" about stuff just to cover their butt in case something goes wrong, so I'll only ask if somebody was to kick me out of the park. That's when I'd seek the higher ups because you've got nothing to lose then. I also keep my digger in a harness and only get it out when digging so it's out of view for the most part.

A few weeks back a guy came along to hunt with me and a friend that I never met before. I took them to one of my honey holes at a public site. About half way into the hunt this new guy heads to his car and pulls out a shovel! OK, I thought...I'll finish digging this plug of mine and go over and tell him the way it is at my sites, because nice guy or not he ain't blowing my spots for me like that. Just when I finish up what I'm doing and start to get up to go have a talk with him, he's already rushing back to his car to put the shovel away. I guess it was just a deep target he was having trouble with and so needed to pull out the shovel. Fine, saves me a confrontation, but if he does that on a regular basis with us then I'm going to have to have a few words about the "low profile" aspect of how all my spots are still open to detecting after all these years.

 

[jyt2017]

I was nice to the dude. Despite him getting all wound up. Like red faced an shaking. The guy was very angry. I used to work where I was an know some higher ups. So. Its a matter of whether or not I just let it go, or get written permission from his boss. I honestly never had an issue in 11 years of hunting this spot.

In the guys defense, its a tough job. A lot of people are hard to deal with. I tried not to be one of them. One thing I suspect, is I have been cleaning out his spot for the last month an he finally caught me...lmao. I found planted dimes last week, and now I am thinking I should have left them.

Anyway. I am just glad my machine isn't broken. I really thought I had a problem. HH an GL. -Joe

Man, that is a huge scoop! Mine is smaller than most use but it gets me better at zeroing in when scooping at the beach or in the water. Be sure you don't accidently take one of those cats with you in the scoop when you head out.

Sorry to hear about the park nazi. Plenty of other parks to hunt I'm sure so no big deal. I try to avoid parks where I see ground crews working. I even try to stay far away from people in a park, and turn my back to whoever is closest when bending down to dig a hole. The less they see the better IMO. Fly under the radar is my motto. I've seen guys boldly say they like to ask the park authorites at a city or such for permission so they know they are in the clear. I think that's a mistake. So long as there are no signs that say "Permission or Permit Required" why take the chance of asking? People in government like to say "no" about stuff just to cover their butt in case something goes wrong, so I'll only ask if somebody was to kick me out of the park. That's when I'd seek the higher ups because you've got nothing to lose then. I also keep my digger in a harness and only get it out when digging so it's out of view for the most part.

A few weeks back a guy came along to hunt with me and a friend that I never met before. I took them to one of my honey holes at a public site. About half way into the hunt this new guy heads to his car and pulls out a shovel! OK, I thought...I'll finish digging this plug of mine and go over and tell him the way it is at my sites, because nice guy or not he ain't blowing my spots for me like that. Just when I finish up what I'm doing and start to get up to go have a talk with him, he's already rushing back to his car to put the shovel away. I guess it was just a deep target he was having trouble with and so needed to pull out the shovel. Fine, saves me a confrontation, but if he does that on a regular basis with us then I'm going to have to have a few words about the "low profile" aspect of how all my spots are still open to detecting after all these years.

 

[Suncoast Kid]

My Excal II has always worked perfectly until taking it out off the beach after Tropical Storm Debby. As soon as I got into the saltwater it just went crazy, adjusting anything didn't help, but as soon as I got back to the beach it worked great again, just like before. I could tell there was a lot of iron. I thought there was something wrong with my detector to the point of taking it completing apart, only to find that nothing was wrong with it as far as I could tell. I wish I would have read this post earlier, it would have saved me a lot of time. HH, and thanks for the info.